….with Tara DeMaris

Kindness Agents on the Mission

I will have to be honest with you, I have never been a fan of elf on the shelf. Gasp!

Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was a fun idea, however somewhat meaningless. If I am going to do daily activities with the elf I wanted to be something more meaningful and memorable and teach my children a great lesson, Hence , the kindness agents appeared in our home!

I got three of these amazing cloth dolls at target on the clearance rack after the Christmas year before, they were just a few dollars a piece and they were exactly what I was looking for. I was waiting patiently for the following year to come to surprise my children with these new friends.I made this package and decorated it and as we went to church one Sunday I carefully snuck the package at our door as I was leaving, so that my children will find that upon arrival home. The boys were so surprised to see the package at our door on the Sunday out of all days! They were even more surprised to see their names on the package with the label “ handle with care “ . They were fascinated and intrigued at the same time! As they were carefully opening the box, they found these dolls inside, their confused faces quickly revealed they need an explanation. Inside they found a letter from the kindness agents, explaining to them that they are on the mission to spread the kindness and cheer in the world and they need the help of the Rivera boys. The letter stated that the boys get to name the 3 agents first , after this they are to expected to appear daily with various assignments.

The boys were excited to give the agents their own names and next morning they woke up looking for their new friends and their Assignments.

This is something simple and easy for you to do with your children at Home to focus on doing the random acts of kindness and also being thankful for the things you have in your life. Here are some ideas we tried and loved :

we started with the prayer chain craft project . We cut out the pieces of construction paper into the strips , wrote down the prayer requests and turned them into the decorative chain as a reminded to pray for these people

We LOVED doing this one ! Get some small sandwich ziplock bags , add 1 Tide pod laundry detergent ( we so wish we could have sample of our favorite non toxic laundry soap!) , add $1.50 in quarters… so we got about a roll of quarters and made few bags and left them at the local laundry mat for someone to find . We left a cute note inside that said mentioned random act of kindness.

We made some cookies and delivered them to the elderly neighbors .

We delivered some coffee to various friends during the day at their work

We made cards and wrote notes to people

We delivered flowers to someone special

We paid for the person behind us in the drive through

There are many easy ways to show kindness to others , while sharing your blessings and being thankful . We wanted to teach our kids to focus on the needs of others , to share , to pray , to make someone smile .

The boys were sad to say good bye to the Kindness Agents as Christmas approached . Last night they asked us if we will be doing it again this year .

We would love to hear your ideas , please add them in the comments , let’s gather as many ideas as we can and shower our community with kindness this year !!

Remember, God so loved the world that HE GAVE …… the only way we can spread His love is by showing it in acts as well as words .

Much love ,

Lenna Rivera

Lenna Rivera is a regular contributor to the Tuesday Tips section of the blog as well as studies. She was born and raised in Volgograd, Russia. She grew up in a family that did not know Christ. At the age of ten, she and her brother found a Gospel preaching church and became first the generation of Christ followers in their family. Then, at the age of eighteen, Lenna felt a strong calling for missions and the Lord opened doors for her to become a missionary to the country of Georgia. Today, Lenna, her husband, Zach, and their three children reside in Nebraska.